McGovern’s deeds will be missed

October 23, 2012

Like some other men who have run for president and some who have won the office, Sen. George McGovern did an enormous amount of good outside the presidency. He will be remembered for that and for the staunch liberal principles he defended throughout his life.

McGovern, 90, died Sunday in his home state, South Dakota.

He ran for president three times, winning the Democrat Party's nomination in 1972 and losing in a landslide to Richard Nixon. Only about two years later, Nixon would become the only president ever to resign from office in disgrace.

McGovern represented South Dakota for two terms in the House of Representatives and three in the U.S. Senate.

His liberal domestic policies and his anti-war stance, along with miscues in his campaign, cost him the presidency in 1972.

McGovern's opposition to the Vietnam War was based in part on his own experience in combat. He was a decorated pilot in World War II, flying 35 missions in a B-24 bomber.

Again, however, McGovern did enormous good in programs to feed the needy throughout the world. He and former Republican Sen. Bob Dole worked together on such projects and in 2008 were honored with the World Food Prize.

Though McGovern's ideas were opposed by many conservatives, he won the respect of many of them for a career in which he served both his fellow Americans and millions of others. He will be missed.